Want to start a blog and looking for suggestions

Hey everyone. I am thinking of entering the blogging world but know very little about how to get started. It is NOT going to be related to mental health at all (actually going to use it as a distraction). I hope to practice my writing skills, give people info that is not really out there (my chosen topic is a little different) and I don't care about making money, but at the same a little extra money never hurts.

Looking for favorite places to start a blog and any tips anyone wants to give to get started. I taught myself elementary HTML years ago and I can always relearn. I've done the Google search to try to get info, but there is so MUCH info that I don't really know what to do with it all. I'd like to be able to customize my site, add tags in increase the amount of readers I have, have a counter or reader log, and of course, a place for feedback.

Once I set it up, I'd be happy to share it with you, however, I will not be using my PC name. For that matter, I won't be using my real name either. I'd like to keep this site and what I do here and my blog in separate universes though I don't mind sharing with people, if you understand where I'm coming from. Thanks bunches and I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Booksie.com is a great website to get started. It's free and simple. You can write chapters of books, poems, anything really. It also gives many tools to help you get read and discovered. Hope your blog dreams come true. Yours truly, Lightbulb7

Maranara, I had a blog for quite some time on Weebly.com but I had a lot of problems with it. I now have one on Blogspot, which is probably one of my favorite blogging platforms.

If you're looking for more of a blogging community, I'd suggest Tumblr. It really is its own subculture, but you'll be more exposed than you would with a different blogging site.

i just keep a journal on livejournal.

it's a really awsome site- though i've not written to mine for at least a few months... need to update it if i can remember my info lol

I've tried Blogger on Google and have my students use that also. I like the other ideas I've just read about. I have trouble keeping at it and I too would like to have a Blog that I like and care about. The sites are so easy now you don't need programming skills to use them. Good luck.

Thanks everyone. You've given me some things to think about. I looked at Blogger but I'm just not sure. I don't know if I have the discipline to keep it up or not but it's worth a try. I need a good distraction to keep me busy and to keep my mind off of everything else, and blogging seems as though it might provide that.

Little Me, I visited your site and saw disappointed that I couldn't leave any kind of message. What do you teach? I have taught junior high English for about 20 years. I'm not currently teaching; we recently moved. I'm scoring standarized tests on-line at the moment and am working on my writing. I hope I can talk to you soon. Sounds like we have a bit in common.

I recommend WordPress.com for a blog. You can also download and install the program on your own website, but for a beginner who just wants to get a blog up and ready in no time, WordPress.com is easy.

Tumblr is the best in my opinion; it's 100% free and has an awesome social component to it. Moreover, the features are simple to learn, and there are lots of widgets. I started using it because a friend of mine and myself decided to boycott Facebook (in other words stop using Facebook), and I am participating in a boycott of Google products, so we registered with Tumblr.

My Tumblr blog now has over 3000 views from 51 countries and 220+ subscribers .

Maranara, I've gotten some messages, not sure what is wrong. I teach Business/Technology and Math for about 10 years.
Can't seem to get into blogging today or any day for that matter. I proctored PSAT's this morning. 4 hours stuck in a room. The kids were stuck too but that's part of being a kid taking an exam right?

Let someone know of the problems you're having. They may not be aware. I hope to be able to talk to you soon.

Sounds good. I don't really have anything against Google per se, but I do not like Facebook either. It's good to know that I'm not the only one.

The boycott against Google has to do with its awful privacy settings, which are coming under fire in the European Union and elsewhere, as well as its use of search bubbles.

As for Facebook, lots of people don’t like Facebook, and in 2011 Facebook saw a loss of 7 million active users in the United States and Canada. I don't feel safe on Facebook; too many people I don't want searching for me and I don't want to talk to or see.

Anyhow, Tumblr is awesome, and it’s easy to use and setup. Many other services, such as Weebly and Wordpress, take more getting used to, and have more restrictions if your account is not a paid one.

Wow, Mr. Venomous, thanks for the information on search bubbles. I can't say I didn't know some of how it worked, but I didn't think about how widespread it could be. I know Google and Bing know a lot about me because of the search suggestions that come up when I type, and certainly I've heard that they collect a lot of information. I recently heard that one (probably more) travel site--Expedia.com I think was the one--will give higher-priced deals to those who use a Mac instead of a PC, assuming that if you have a Mac, you probably make more money than a PC user (which might be true...I think I'd like a Mac, but sure can't afford one).

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I like sharing and posting and all that, but I don't like that it only lets you see a very limited number of posts in your feed. I have hundreds of friends, but see only the posts of a handful of them. A day or two ago, I read that Facebook now has it set up so that you only see Friends' posts if you add their name to the Interests lists that are for organizing your friends. Even that isn't enough, because I haven't "heard" from many people, but if I go to their page, I see recent posts by them. People say the same about me, and I find very limited responses to my posts, by a comparably small group of friends. I am fully aware that if I have hundreds of friends, it's impossible to keep up with them all, but it should be MY choice to wade through them all if I want. Let me control my feed my way!